Optics and Optical Design - Paraxial Ray Tracing Using Matrices, with a MATLAB Example, PHYS 352

In just 12 minutes the paraxial ray trace equations are cast into 2x2 reflection, refraction, and transfer matrices and written into a MATLAB function. This method is described in most optics textbooks, for example Hecht Chapter 6 and Pedrotti Chapter 18. As a simple example, the ray trace matrices are applied to a thick lens in order to determine its effective focal length, its back focal length, and its principal plane location. The slider and the play-pause button were meant for videos like this. Introduction to the paraxial ray trace equations https://youtu.be/g-mPisltcRQ Optical Design Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmfHzApbF5dbx_S_h9A13uLm4LVK0f6XK #GeometricOptics #ParaxialRayTracing #OpticalDesign #LensDesign